Fishing
The fishing skill allows you to use a Fishing Pole to fish for different types of Fish. Fishing is also required to learn Swimming. In-Game Text "Water? I don't touch the stuff! Only good for food if you ask me." Fishing gives your character the ability to use and construct fishing rods. Fish Quoting Jorb: "Fish is now a limited and localized resource, working in the same way as any other localized resource. You should notice fish jumping in the water if the area has fish. What you catch when fishing depends on the following factors: Time of day, astronomical conditions, lure, hook and line type as well as quality on those. Where you fish also plays part." Guide To fish you need 4 items combined together and the fishing skill: # Fishing Pole # Fishing Line # Fish Hook #and either Fishing Lure or Bait. The line, hook, and lure/bait are added to the pole by left clicking on the item and then right clicking on the top half of the fishing pole. To gather these supplies yourself you will need foraging ( Spindly Taproot ) and hunting ( bone from Rabbit or Chicken ). Otherwise you will need to be given fishing equipment by other players. Fishing line is mostly string. That means it is either fibre, a spindly taproot or spun wool. Your first fish hook will probably be made of bone. If you don't find an animal skeleton which has been abandoned by a hunter you will need the skill hunting to get a bone to make the fish hook out of. (The easiest animals to kill are the rabbit (forest) and chicken (grassland, heath or moor). You don't need a weapon, strength or combat skills like you do with deer and boar and other animals.) Similarly, if you don't find spindly taproot you will need to have Farming and locate either flax or hemp and harvest them to get the fibre. If you are very serious about fishing you will want to raise your own fibre to get the best quality fishing line you can. But most people can easily find spindly taproot with the foraging skill and can get adequate quality line this way. Bait is either Earthworms, which you can get by digging in forest ground, once you have Pottery, or Leeches which you can get by standing in a marsh. Have your equipment screen open and watch carefully for leeches to appear. As soon as they do pluck them off and put them into inventory. You don't need any skill to do this. If Leeches stay on your equipment screen they will feed on your blood and become bloated leeches, this costs you soft hitpoints but have a chance to restore hard hitpoints. There is a fishing icon under the Adventure menu. Select this and your mouse pointer will become a fish hook. Then click on the water and wait. It can take two minutes before you catch a fish. Not all spots on the water are clickable.You may not catch anything each time you cast your line into the water. Every time you try fishing with bait you will need another item of bait whether you catch anything or not. Lures, however can be reused over and over. While you are fishing your line will be thrown out in the water. You will get LP for each attempt even if nothing is caught. Have at least three horizontal squares and two vertical squares available in your inventory to hold the fish, if possible. A sturgeon requires the three horizontal and an eel requires the two squares vertical. Most other fish require only one square of inventory. Lines break, hooks get lost and lures fall off. Be prepared to replace them if fish is to be your main source of food. All cooked fish have FEP, higher quality fish have higher FEP values. To keep your stats balanced you will need to catch different fish and try different foods, refer to the FEP Table for guidance. To improve the quality of your fishing pole, hooks and the spindly taproot that you find increase your surivival. You can also use a higher quality tree for the pole and higher quality bone for the fish. The quality of spindly taproot is dependant on the quality of the soil, just like chantrelles and blueberries. If you find high q soil it is a good place to return periodically foraging. To improve the quality of your wood fish lure improve the quality of your axe and your carpentry skill, but the rock lobster and pine cone plug are also dependant on your survival skill. Fishing does not cost stamina to use. You will replenish stamina at your normal rate.